


the abandoned cottage in the woods

by CrayolaColor



Series: where the darkness leads [2]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Again. Everything is FINE., Angst, In which Varian literally cannot hide from his past no matter how hard he tries, Just like my last fic this needs a TW for what's basically a suicide attempt., This is because That Scene from my last fic is shown again in this one, also this isn't really a ship fic, everything is fine., it's FINE., just a 'varian's past is forcefully outed to someone he never would've told voluntarily' fic, r.i.p him, varian and the seven kingdoms - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23993635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrayolaColor/pseuds/CrayolaColor
Summary: Varian and Hugo stumble across a small cottage in the middle of nowhere. The inside is wildly different from what they would have expected.
Series: where the darkness leads [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730161
Comments: 11
Kudos: 107





	the abandoned cottage in the woods

**Author's Note:**

> This was HIGHKEY an impulse fic and also the first thing I've ever written for the VAT7K AU. (and possibly the only thing, I love it but I don't intend to write a lot of fanfics based on it.) I hope y'all like it. I had a lot of fun writing it, and finished it a LOT quicker than I did my last one.
> 
> Also, important!! This is a FOLLOWUP to my fic 'the only way out / ruddiger is the hero of this story'. Make sure you read that one first!!

One day, while Varian and Hugo were scouting out ahead of the rest of the group, they stumbled across a small little cottage out by itself in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing else around it, and it appeared as though it had been abandoned for a long time.  
  
Though the two were different in a lot of ways, one thing they had in common was a curiosity streak. So of course, they had to investigate. 

And although the outside of the house seemed perfectly normal, immediately there was something off about the inside. The first room they entered into wasn’t a room at all. It was an extremely long hallway, with no other doors to be seen.

It seemed to go on, and on, and on, extending out beyond the length the house appeared to be on the outside. 

“Huh. I… don’t know what I was expecting to be in here, but this wasn’t it.” Varian commented, instinctevely pulling the door shut behind him as he entered the house. “What d’you make of it?”

“Well, for one thing, I would’ve had second thoughts about shutting the door.” Hugo replied, glancing back at the younger alchemist. “We’ve only been in here for a few seconds and it’s already screaming ‘this is a trap.’” 

Unfortunately, Varian really didn’t have any room to argue with that. As much as he hated his decisions being questioned, Hugo had a point. There was something decidedly eerie about the whole thing, and it definitely was sounding off some alarm bells to him as well.  
  
“Well, uh, there’s nothing stopping me from going back and opening it, I guess.” He replied, then turned around to go back and shut the door. However, he didn’t get very far. Before he had even taken two steps, he was met with a solid brick wall that had _definitely not_ been there before.

“... Except for maybe the _house_ .” In a last ditch effort, he put his palms on the brick wall and pushed, hoping that it might be unstable enough to give way. But of course, he wouldn’t be that lucky. The wall was firm, and didn’t even budge despite his valiant effort.  
  
Hugo snorted behind him. “Well, I hate to say I told you so, but…”

Varian bit his bottom lip _hard._ Sighing heavily, he looked back at the other. “Yeah, okay, whatever. Let’s just… keep going. Not like we’re being given much of a choice, at this point.” He replied, annoyance dripping through his voice. 

It wasn’t like his decision to shut the door had really _changed_ anything. He was sure that wall would have shown up whether he’d done it or not. Afterall, if the house wanted them to stay, ten it would make sure they stayed.

Sometimes Varian really regretted ever getting involved with anything _magic_. 

Walking away from the brick wall, he picked up his pace enough to overtake Hugo as they continued down the ridiculously long hall. Briefly, he wondered whether there was an end to it at all. He hoped they hadn’t accidentally stumbled across some never ending hallway.

But, low and behold, things did begin to change as they walked. The wood floor seemed to fade away, replaced instead by a dirt path like you would find outside. The walls and ceiling, too, began to change. They became darker and darker, until they were midnight black.

Varian was just beginning to wonder whether he was seeing parts of a building or the sky, when he found his answer. He stopped abruptly upon realizing they had reached the end of the hallway, and were back outside. But it wasn’t the outside they had just come from.

To the contrary, it was an outside the young alchemist hadn’t seen in quite some time. 

It was the village of Old Corona. And considering they were miles away from it, that was extremely strange in and of itself. But that wasn’t even the weirdest part of it. It wasn’t just Old Corona, it was Old Corona as it had been in the days of the black rocks.

Destroyed, abandoned, and absolutely _covered_ in them. 

Every last house had nearly collapsed from the damage they’d wrought, except for his own. It was the only house there that had never succumbed to the rocks.

The sight reawakened all sorts of bad memories in Varian. Although he tried not to think about it if he could help it, he still very vividly remembered the awful series of events that had taken place in and around that ruined village. 

The fight with his father, the amber, his many days and nights alone in his lab after the snowstorm had ended. The battle he’d waged on Corona’s citizens, so fueled by anger that he couldn’t see that they had no fault in what had happened at all.

A chill went down his spine as all of those memories came back to his head. Struggling to keep from losing his composure, he took a shaky breath, and turned to look at Hugo.

The other alchemist hadn’t immediately noticed the distress his companion was in, focused on the bigger picture instead of him. He gave a long whistle as he looked around at the ruined village. “Sheesh, this place has seen better days.”  
  
Eyes lighting on a patch of the black rocks, he approached them to study them closer. “What _are_ these things? Some kind of weird rocks?” He knelt down to get a better look at them, but the next thing he knew, he was being sharply yanked away from them by Varian.  
  
“Yes! That’s exactly what they are. Weird rocks. Weird, dangerous, magical rocks. And you _shouldn’t_ mess with them.” The young alchemist replied, a slightly hysterical edge to his voice. “We need to get out of here. And I mean _now_.” 

“Okay, okay! I get the message, loud and clear.” Hugo pulled his arm from Varian’s grasp, rubbing his now-sore shoulder. “You don’t have to wrench my arm out of its socket.” Studying Varian’s expression, he noted his obvious urgency to leave, and raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Okay, spill it. What do you know about this place that _I_ don’t?” He questioned. “‘Cause I know good and well you wouldn’t be acting this way about some creepy abandoned village if you didn’t know _something_ about it.” 

Varian sighed heavily. He guessed there wasn’t any specific reason not to tell him. “That’s because it’s _not_ just ‘some creepy abandoned village.’ It’s _my_ creepy abandoned village. From, I don’t know, three or four years ago?” He explained. 

“It doesn’t look like this _now_ . The rocks have been gone for awhile, ‘nd it’s been pretty much rebuilt from scratch. I think- I think there’s _something_ in this house that’s trying to get to me by showing me all of this. Hence, we need to get out of here. _Right now._ Before it gets any _worse_.” 

Without allowing Hugo a chance to protest, Varian turned around with the intention of heading in a different direction. But fate had other plans, and he found himself face to face with yet another wall. Except this time, instead of brick, it was made out of the black rocks themselves.

Varian remembered that wall of rocks, but what he didn’t remember was him and Hugo entering the village anywhere near them. It was as if the entire village had just… shifted around them. 

“I hate to break it to you, but I’m getting the feeling this place isn’t gonna _let us_ leave anytime soon.” Hugo said, casting a glance up at the giant wall of rocks. 

“Okay, you’re right.” Varian admitted, frowning slightly as he took in the sight before him. “But we can’t just stand around and do nothing. Might as well t _ry to_ find some way out of this mess.” 

He made one last attempt to head in a different direction, thinking that maybe there was something inside his house they needed to do to get out. However, he was once again forced to stop. Not by a physical blockade this time, but by the absolute _shock_ of the sight that greeted him upon turning around. 

“Goggles, is that _you_ ?” Hugo asked from behind.  
  
Varian nodded mutely.  
  
It _was_ him. But much younger- he had to have been fourteen or fifteen at the time. There was a notably dark expression on his face as he approached the wall of rocks, seemingly unaware of the other two’s presence.  
  
Quietly, the older Varian slowly moved closer to his younger counterpart, until he was standing directly beside him. By now it was clear that the younger boy couldn’t see him, and presumably couldn’t hear him either. 

The boy had come to a stop in front of the rocks, and was staring at them with an ever increasing flame of _anger_ in his eyes. 

Unfortunately, the older of the two knew exactly what was about to happen. He remembered all too well what he was being shown to him. But that still didn’t stop him from nearly jumping out of his skin when the younger violently smashed a vial against the rocks, putting so much pressure on the broken glass that it cut right through his rubber glove. 

With a shuddering breath, the older stepped back. He brought his hand up to his chest, pressing his fingers against his palm. He could almost feel the stinging cuts, though they had healed a long, long time ago. 

There had been scars left behind that he _knew_ were still there, despite never really looking at them. He’d always have them, he supposed, a bitter reminder of what he’d done as a young teenager that was battling an overwhelming mix of emotions. 

It was a memory he would have liked to forget, but it was being played out before him now, as vividly as if it was something that was actively occurring. It was painful to watch, but he realized that he had no choice but to do so.

As the amber emerged from where the liquid inside the vial had touched the black rocks, the older Varian backed up a little bit more, until he was standing next to Hugo. Though deep down he knew what he was seeing wasn’t real, being so close to it still made him uneasy.

But his younger counterpart had accepted his fate, sitting down on the ground and simply waiting patiently for the ever-growing mass of rock to reach him.

“Should we be _doing_ something about this?” Hugo asked.

Varian wished that he _could_. His instincts were screaming at him to call out to his younger self, and tell him to stop. But he knew it would make a difference, so he shook his head. “... No. I think we’ve just- just got to watch it play out.” He replied, voice quiet and hoarse.

By now, the amber had nearly reached the younger boy. And for a few moments, the older Varian began to wonder if they were going to be shown a much worse way that night could have gone. (And oh, was he aware of just _how much worse_ it could have gone.)

But to his relief, he caught sight of Ruddiger, charging out the door and across the village to catch up with his owner. And once again he was reminded that the raccoon had, for all intents and purposes, saved his life. 

Maybe he’d give him an extra apple, once they got out. 

“ _Ah!_ Ruddiger!” For the first time, his younger self spoke. Jumping up from where he sat, he yanked the raccoon off the ground and hurried away from the amber. “Wh- what were you doing!? I told you to stay inside!” 

The older Varian could hear the raw emotion clearly in his younger self’s voice, and he cringed. He’d been such a mess back then. Maybe he still _was_ , just not quite in the same way that he’d been as a young teenager.  
  
Back then, he’d been the sort of mess that had led him to make some extremely rash decisions. And although it had been one of the least harmful to others around him, his attempt to encase himself in amber was still one he deeply regretted making.  
  
In fact, he’d started regretting it the moment he clued in that Ruddiger understood, and was (in his own way) desperately begging him not to do it.

“Okay, buddy. I’m listening. I’m listening.” The younger said, wiping tears from his eyes as he began to follow his pet back towards the house. His older counterpart watched him until he had disappeared inside the house, shutting the door behind him.

And as soon as they were left alone again, the scene around him and his companion began to fade away. And instead of Old Corona, they were left with what they had expected to find to begin with. The inside of an old, dusty, completely normal cottage.

And where the door to Varian’s house had been before, there was a wide open door that led to the outside. The _real_ outside, as far as either of them could tell.

But even once every trace of Old Corona’s image was gone, Varian didn’t move. He stared blankly out the open door, where he’d seen his younger self disappear only moments prior. Unbeknownst to him, tears were beginning to spill from his eyes and down his cheeks. 

“Uh, Goggles? Is there something you want to tell me about?”

The young alchemist jumped, whirling around to face Hugo. He’d nearly forgotten that the other was with him. He tried to compose himself enough to reply, but he didn’t have it in him to directly answer what he had said. 

Instead, he backed away from the fellow alchemist, and turned to head quickly towards the open door. “Let’s- Let’s get out of here, Hugo. Before something else happens.” He replied instead, wiping the tears from his eyes with his sleeve.  
  
“Hey, wait a minute! Are you-”  
  
“We’re _not_ talking about this!” Varian snapped, stopping suddenly in the doorway and spinning around to face him again. “I don’t _want_ to talk about this! Don’t ask me about it, don’t mention it to _anyone_ . We’re going to forget this ever even happened! **_Do you understand?_ **” 

There was a harsh intensity in his voice that he hadn’t used on _anyone_ in a long time. And once he registered it, he realized that it scared him. He didn’t want to be that angry. He had _no reason_ to be that angry, it wasn’t like Hugo had really done anything _wrong_. 

But the things that had happened to him when he was young were hard to talk about. Even with people he’d known for years, and even more so when it came to someone he’d only recently met. (And still was trying to figure out how he felt about.) 

Hugo was obviously shocked by the younger alchemist’s sudden outburst, but Varian also noticed what was clearly _concern_ in his eyes.

Much like Hugo in general, Varian wasn’t sure how to feel about that. At the moment, it was just making him uncomfortable. Really, though, it was the entire situation that was making him uncomfortable. And he wanted to get out of it as quickly as possible. 

“ _Wow_ , that was a little harsh. I was just gonna ask if you were okay. It’s not exactly _normal_ to see you crying, y’know.” Hugo ultimately replied, hands raised defensively. “But I get the message. I won’t pester you about it, but _only_ so that you don’t stab me in my sleep.” 

Varian knew that he was only teasing, but the comment struck a chord with him. So many of his past memories were swirling around in his head, and he couldn’t help but think that there was a time when that fear wouldn’t have been all that misplaced. But he had changed, hadn’t he?

“I-I’m not- I wouldn’t-”

“Wh-? Yeah, I know- I know you wouldn’t _actually_ do that. Have you ever heard of a _joke_ before?” 

Varian didn’t answer him directly. “Let’s go back. I don’t want to hang around here anymore. And please, don’t say anything to _anyone_ about this. Not even Nuru or Yong. _Especially_ not Nuru or Yong.” He pleaded, blinking a way a few more tears that had come to his eyes. 

“Yeah, I got it, Goggles. You made that pretty clear already, you don’t have to keep begging me for silence.” Hugo replied, joining him at the door. “But yeah, let’s get out of here before this house decides to keep us captive for all eternity ‘cause we didn’t _leave_ fast enough.”

With that, he stepped out of the house. He paused just outside the door to wait for Varian, who had lagged behind in the doorway. “Well? Do you want to leave or not?”  
  
“Yeah, yeah. I-I’m coming.” Despite the young alchemist’s insistence to leave, his eyes were still drawn to the inside of the house. He almost couldn’t tear his gaze away from it. 

But for a brief moment, as he stared back into the room, Varian could almost picture the ruined village yet again. Suddenly afraid of what he might see next, he backed rapidly out the door. And as soon as he had exited the house, the door slammed shut _violently_ behind him.  
  
The lock clicked loudly, and immediately afterwards, the house as a whole began to fade away. Faster and faster, until the two were left standing in an empty clearing, with no evidence that the little abandoned cottage had ever been there at all.  
  
Blinking a couple of times, Varian looked at Hugo. Cracking an obviously fake smile, he laughed. “Wow. I guess the house _itself_ wants us to forget it ever existed.” 

But deep down, he knew that the opposite was the case. The house wanted him to remember what he’d seen inside of it. And the truth was, even after they’d long since left the house behind them, neither he nor Hugo ever really forgot. 

**Author's Note:**

> Funfact: Every time I edited this it got longer. The first draft was 1.3k words, the second draft was 2.5k words, and the third draft (the final one) ended up being 3k words. I do not know how this happened.
> 
> (it also got a little bit angstier with each edit, WHOOPS. please don't sue me LOL)


End file.
